1. Field of the Subject Disclosure
The present subject disclosure relates to allergy information. More specifically, the present subject disclosure relates to automated allergy alerts.
2. Background of the Subject Disclosure
There have been many documented cases where significant health emergencies, including the loss of life, have resulted from inadvertent exposure to life threatening food allergens, such as peanuts, tree-nuts, egg yolk, shellfish, etc. There is an extremely serious, and potentially life-threatening, issue of inadvertent exposure to food-based allergens from prepared food sources accessible to the general public.
The only current mechanism to discover the presence of food allergens in prepared food is asking a food server interfacing with the customer. This mechanism frequently has zero, incorrect, or incomplete information on the individual ingredients that make up the prepared food being served. The problem becomes acute when language issues are involved.
At the same time, mobile devices, such as cellular telephones, have become a common tool of everyday life. Cellular telephones are no longer used simply to place telephone calls. With the number of available features rapidly increasing, cellular telephones are now used for storing addresses, keeping a calendar, reading e-mails, drafting documents, etc. These devices are small enough that they can be carried in a pocket or purse all day, allowing a user to stay in contact almost anywhere. Recent devices have become highly functional, providing applications useful to business professionals as well as the casual user. Many of these devices support multiple communication protocols in addition to those of cellular communication, including WiFi, BLUETOOTH, ZIGBEE, Z-WAVE, etc.
What is needed is a mobile phone based alerting solution to prevent inadvertent exposure to allergens from sources for such potential exposures, such as restaurants, cafeterias, food vending machines, factories, etc.